Decisions, Decisions
by VioletStella
Summary: The Captain rhapsodizes regarding a particular garment Carolyn once wore.  Spoilers for "Haunted Honeymoon".


A post series fic. A quiet moment of wedded bliss. Spoilers for "Haunted Honeymoon".

Carolyn was cocooned in the cozy warmth of her lover's arms. Underneath a mountain of blankets she reveled in her beloved's tenderness. She brought her palm up to his cheek and kissed him warmly. Softly, she pulled away from the kiss but continued to stroke his cheek with her thumb.

"Darling," she whispered, "you've made so many dreams come true for me; aren't there any dreams I can make come true for you?"

Her Dearest Captain smiled, a wicked glint in his eyes, "Let's consider our situation for a moment. I am currently blissfully entangled with a beautiful woman whom I happen to love dearly. Let's also consider; well, there is nothing else to consider."

She giggled in response, letting the sparkle in her eyes speak for her.

"You, My Dear; are every dream I ever had come true."

Her heart was touched, she pulled in to kiss him again, "if I weren't already in bed with you, I'd take you to bed for those words."

He kissed her forehead and held her close. They were each lost in the bliss of the moment.

He stroked her back and whispered into her ear, "your presence has graced this house and turned it into a home. There is nothing more I could possibly want."

"I want to make every dream come true."

"You already have."

She grinned and looked him in the eye, "what about fantasies?"

"Fantasies?"

"Mm hmm, surely there must be some ideas you haven't acted on."

"My dear Carolyn, are you saying you have had risque thoughts about me?" he asked with pretend shock.

She smiled slyly, "you are trying to change the subject; we are talking about you; not me."

He filed away that smile for future reference and returned to the tantalizing task at hand. "Very well: "My Fantasies" by Daniel Gregg."

Carolyn laughed, "this is hardly a school composition."

He gazed at her with false accusation, "do you want an answer or not?"

"I'm sorry, I won't interrupt again," her eyes glittering with delight, "please continue."

"Thank you," he became more serious as he remembered their past, "at the very beginning of our relationship I spent a lot of time ruing the cosmic joke being played on me. After a lifetime of searching for you, I was unable to court you, spoil you as you should be spoiled. It wasn't fair."

Carolyn wanted to say something, but kept to her vow of not interrupting, instead she closed her eyes for a moment, silently urging him to continue.

"The beauty of your heart and soul captivated me. I discovered that your company fulfilled a long held desire for fellowship. There were so many nights when everyone else was asleep and we'd shut ourselves away in the parlor; you, quite often, wearing a soft peignoir..."

She smiled.

"You want to say something, please do."

"You noticed my tendency for nightgowns around you."

"I did, and I loved the intimacy. It made it so easy to pretend there was an 'us'."

"There has always been an 'us'."

He kissed her warmly, tenderly and for quite some time. Finally tearing himself away from her lips he continued, "I love you and will always love you."

"I love you so and always will as well." They said nothing else for a while, the just indulged in the bliss they saw in each others eyes.

Eventually she brought conversation back, "I'd still love to hear an actual fantasy."

He smiled at the memory, "there was a delightful sheer white negligee your wore quite some time ago; when that unmarried couple boarded our ship and upset the peace. There was an intriguing bow right here..." He traced a bow on Carolyn's soft skin, right at the bottom of her neck. Her sudden shortness of breath pleased him. "I remember seeing you on the staircase carrying a candle. The shadows flickered on the wall behind you. Ethereal; like an angel descending from Heaven, that's what you were, and still are."

Carolyn was lost in his imagery, remembering that night fondly, until she was suddenly stuck by a thought, "wait a minute, you weren't in the foyer when I came downstairs."

"Just because you didn't see me, doesn't mean I wasn't there."

She sighed, sometimes he used that invisibility of his too much to his advantage.

"If you will please forgive the expression, seeing you in that negligee has haunted my thoughts ever since."

She forgave him the expression, "I didn't know one bow could launch so many thoughts."

"I wouldn't say it was the bow so much as the delightful dilemma of how to untie the aforementioned bow. It was so perfectly tied, all I could think of was how much I wanted to make it...imperfect."

Carolyn was starting to become a little light headed, "dilemma?"

"Mmm, do I tug at one end until it comes undone? Take one bit in my teeth and pull? Grasp both ends at the same time and slowly draw them out until there is no longer a bow?"

Carolyn, barely coherently responded, "No reason to limit oneself, bows can always be re-tied."

He laughed deeply, sending Carolyn into an even less coherent state of being. She worked to get her breathing under control, finally accomplishing this monumental task. What she did next surprised her Captain, she pulled a sheet around her and got out of bed.

"Where are you going?"

"Close your eyes."

"You're joking."

"No, close your eyes and no peeking."

He gave her a 'I can't believe you are asking me to do this, but I love you anyway' look and shut his eyes.

Satisfied that he would keep his word, Carolyn tiptoed over to the dresser and opened the bottom drawer. She pulled out the nightgown and robe and quickly threw them on. She tried to tie the bow as perfectly as she could, but as her hands were trembling, the final effect wasn't as pristine as she had hoped. Somehow, she didn't think he would mind.

She walked over to his side of the bed and touched his cheek, "you can peek now."

His eyes blinked open and beheld the gossamer beauty before him. He smiled and that alone sent Carolyn's equilibrium so off-kilter she didn't think she could stand much longer. He sat up and drew her into his lap, solving Carolyn's problem for her. Starting at her ear lobe, he kissed he way down her neck, eventually reaching the top of the bow. He pulled away and she whimpered.

"Why did you stop?"

"Not stopping, just...deliberating."

"Deliberate faster."

He laughed and kissed her, "so impatient," he teased.

"I can get up and change into a nice winter coat, you know."

"That's the emptiest threat I ever heard."

She laughed and he kissed her again. Breaking away he dropped his eyes to focus on the bow; one arm held her firmly on his lap, the other reached for the ends of the bow, his fingers tousling them as he made his decision. Finally, he slowly pulled one end and watched that pretty, slightly imperfect bow disappear. He repeatedly kissed the spot where the bow had been. Carolyn gasped and ran her fingers through his hair.

Despite his strong arm around her Carolyn was losing the battle with gravity and fell back against the bed.

He eyed her bemusedly, "comfortable?"

She shook her head and held her arms out to him, "not quite."

He obliged and leaned in to kiss her, seeing to her comfort throughout the rest of the night and leaving the other solutions to his bow untying dilemma to future nights.


End file.
